The Badge
by EveryDream
Summary: "Everything that happens out there is for the greater good. In here you are not the greater good. You are part of the system."


"Everything that happens out there is for the greater good. In here you are not the greater good. You are part of the system."

When Beth looks at this woman, all she can think of is Rick. He sits on the forefront of her mind, his face nearly blocking out that of the pretender before her. He takes up nearly every portion of her thoughts except for that small part clinging to the last living member of her well extended family. She can see his shadow looming past the length of the woman's, his badge a hazy vision over hers, and his hat almost feels like its sitting on her head once again like the last day she wore it, the last day he had.

Rick was their leader, she looked up to him, took care of his daughter like she was Beth's own. This woman, she wears her uniform well, holds herself in a well practiced manner. She expects respect and obedience because she holds a position of power. But Beth will give her nothing she wants. Beth has stood in the presence of a real leader, of real authority, and knows the difference between a person who wears the uniform and a person who embodies it.

She can remember the farm, of Rick wearing his uniform there before abandoning it. He seemed to forget he even wore it, like it was just another layer of skin. The first night after the barn burned he didn't have his uniform, but he didn't need it, not then or a day after. Rick didn't expect them to follow, he demanded it.

Even in his darkest hour Rick had honor, morals. He knew when he'd gone too far. Beth had never seen Rick as anything but the leader despite being replaced by the council. Everything else seemed temporary. Eventually she knew, she always knew, that when duty called Rick would step back up to the plate. That was who he was. The badge wasn't a position; it was a state of being. You were born to do it, or you just pretended at it.

This woman reminded Beth of Shane, or the Governor. She would never follow orders from such a person. Their interest didn't lie in the good of anyone but themselves. They felt a rush by making people obey, felt power in other's pain… in other's death.

Her words meant nothing to Beth. She would never be a part of this woman's system. Beth knew exactly where she belonged, or rather who she belonged with. Everyone else was dead, but Daryl wasn't. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that once she escaped she'd be able to find him. She would track him down until the day she died. They were all each other had with their family dead.

The hit on her cheek hurt. It split her skin, left blood trickling down over her jaw and down her throat. It cemented her defiance. Anyone who looked at her would know- all the others who walked around in their uniforms.

"I am not a part of your system," Beth said, ignoring the blood and the pain as she looked right back up into the eyes of her captor. "You are not my leader. You have no power over me. You can hit me, beat me, threaten me, but I will not follow your orders. I will fight you, every minute of every day until I get out of here. And when I walk away from here it'll be after I've returned the favor."

Her eyes flickered to the few drops of blood on the floor, the cop's eyes following. When their gazes met again both were hard and cold, an unstoppable force and an immovable object. The cop could push and push and push, but Beth would never budge.

She'd never follow this pretender, parading around in a uniform that would never belong to her. Rick's face sits firmly at the front of her mind, his voice whispering direction in one ear as Daryl whispers encouragement in the other. She's learned from the best.

_I'm not Maggie_, she thinks,_ or Carol or Michonne._ _I'm Beth Greene._

"You see this?" The woman demands, pointing to her badge, "This means I'm in charge. You defy me and I will end you."

Beth stares at the badge for a long moment before looking back up at the woman. "The only person who deserves that badge here is me."


End file.
